MH17

The countries participating in the criminal investigation into the MH17 disaster, confirmed their support and cooperation to that investigation and the prosecution of those responsible on paper. The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the five countries in the Joint investigation team - Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine - signed the agreements they made on this front on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

On Tuesday King Willem-Alexander opened the Netherlands' parliamentary year with his traditional Budget Day speech. He talked about the devastation Hurricane Irma left of the Caribbean islands that form part of the Dutch Kingdom, terrorism around the world, the prosecution of those responsible for the MH17 disaster, and making sure that everyone in the Netherlands benefits from the improving economy, among other things.

From 2018, the Netherlands is reserving money for prosecuting those responsible for the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, Dutch King Willem-Alexander revealed in his Budget Day speech on Tuesday afternoon.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima officially opened the National Monument for the victims of flight MH17 during the memorial service on the third anniversary of the disaster on Monday afternoon. The monument is located in Vijfhuizen Park next to Schiphol Airport, where MH17 took off on July 17th, 2014.

The memorial on the third anniversary of the MH17 disaster started at 2:00 p.m. at the site of the National MH17 Monument in Park Vijfhuizen, next to Schiphol airport. The search for the perpetrators behind MH17's downing continues, but finding a way to move on is just as important, Evert van Zijtveld said on behalf of the survivors' foundation Vliegramp MH17, according to AD's live blog of the memorial.

A group of relatives of MH17 victims gathered in front of the Russian embassy in The Hague on Sunday for a silent protest. "Stop playing games. Be a nation as proud and worthy as your people", the group wrote in a message to Russia. They accuse the country of hindering the investigation focussed on finding the truth, RTL Nieuws reports.

The relatives took a remembrance bench to the protest. A metal plate attached to the bench states in Russian: "Humanity over politics", according to the broadcaster.

The MH17 National Monument in Vijfhuizen will be unveiled at the memorial of the disaster on Monday afternoon. Exactly three years ago today Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard, including 196 Dutch.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte used the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg this weekend to speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin about the MH17 disaster and the decision to prosecute the perpetrators in the Netherlands under Dutch law, NOS reports.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte is pleased that those responsible for downing flight MH17 will be prosecuted in the Netherlands, calling the decision the "next step on the way to finding the truth." The Dutch government is also signing a treaty with the Ukraine on Friday that will allow for prosecution on behalf of all 298 victims, not only the 196 Dutch, AD reports.

Those responsible for downing flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, will stand trial in the Netherlands, the five countries most involved with the disaster decided on Tuesday night. The decision follows long consultation between the countries, the Volkskrant reports.

The team doing the criminal investigation into the downing of flight MH17 will start spreading videos in the Ukraine in an effort to convince witnesses to come forward. The videos consist of the relatives of MH17 victims talking about their loved ones, how they are missed and their sorrow, ANP reports.

According to the police, these videos' primary intent is to again draw attention to the investigation into the disaster. "As the years pass, people can still have important information", a police spokesperson said, according to the news wire.

Relatives of MH17 victims will be allowed to view Schiphol security camera footage of their loved ones checking in for the Malaysia Airlines flight - the last footage recorded of the victims, the Ministry of Security and Justice decided. When and how this viewing will happen is still being considered, AD reports.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte clashed with CDA parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt on the subject of the political relationship with Russia and the MH17 investigation in parliament on Wednesday. Rutte told Omtzigt to think about whether he wants to keep making "a political number out of MH17", or if he'd rather have the "bastards" responsible convicted, RTL Nieuws reports.

The investigation into the MH17 disaster is in a difficult phase and far from over, the Public Prosecutor wrote in a digital magazine meant to keep the victims' relatives informed about what is happening in the MH17 file. The investigators are having trouble getting data from the Ukrainian secret service and cooperation with Russia remains difficult, the Prosecutor wrote on Monday, RTL Nieuws reports.

The investigation is now in its "most difficult phase", the Prosecutor wrote. "Booking progress at this stage is much more difficult."

Nearly three years after the MH17 disaster, relatives of the victims are looking into possibilities of suing the Ukraine for not closing its airspace while it was clearly not safe. By failing to close the airspace, the Ukraine is complicit in their loved ones' death, according to the relatives. They also hope that a conviction against the country would urge uther countries to close their airspace in unsafe situations, RTL Nieuws reports.

The net is closing around the people responsible for the downing of flight MH17. Former Russian soldier Sergej Doebinski was identified on audio recordings as the person who arranged the transport of the BUK missile that shot down the Malaysia Airlines flight in eastern Ukraine, RTL Nieuws reports.

Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta spoke to the person who identified Doebinski. Doebinski is an old acquaintance of the man and he recognized his voice. At the time of the MH17 disaster, Doebinski was fighting with separatists against the Ukrainian army.

The National Police wants to improve the manner in which it selects officers deployed to crisis situations, according to an internal assessment by the police about the MH17 disaster newspaper AD got hold of. Some of the police officers put on the MH17 case were too inexperienced or turned out not to be suitable for work in a disaster area, the assessment said, according to the newspaper.

The Ukraine and Russia are facing off in a lawsuit filed by the Ukraine at the international Court of Justice in The Hague from today. Kiev wants the ICJ to condemn "Russian aggression" and order the country to pay compensation for all "fatal events", including the downing of flight MH17 in 2014, AD reports.

There is no evidence that there are still human remains on the site where flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Minister Stef Blok of Security and Justice said on Thursday. His Ministry studies all photos and statements made by Dutch journalist Michel Spekkers, who brought back a piece of bone and other items found at the crash site in January. The bone fragment belonged to one of the MH17 victims.

Relatives of MH17 victims are shocked by a letter to American president Donald Trump asking him to start an independent investigation into the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The letter was written by candidate parliamentarian Thierry Baudet and 25 others, the Volkskrant reports. The MH17 survivors say they want no part in these "propaganda theories".

A Ukrainian salvage service is planning another mission to search for and recover both MH17 wreckage and victims' belongings, the chairman of a local village council said to BNR. Natalja Volosjina, in charge of the village council of Petropavlovka, believes it will be safe enough for another salvage mission after the winter, and she hopes that a team from the Netherlands will also take part.

Relatives of the victims of the flight MH17 disaster want the Public Prosecutor to launch another investigation at the crash site in eastern Ukraine,the Volkskrant reports. This follows Dutch journalist Michel Spekkers finding a piece of bone at the site where the Malaysia Airlines flight crashed.

Out of fear of being eavesdropped on, Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher did not dare to call Prime Minister Mark Rutte from his cellphone after flight MH17 was shot down in July 2014, Asscher said on television program Jinek.

The Deputy Prime Minister was on holiday in France at the time. Instead of calling the Prime Minister from his mobile phone, he knocked on the door of a neighbor and asked if he could use her landline. "I had to talk to the Prime Minster in The Hague. That you don't do with your mobile. These discussioins might be of interest to Russians or others."